The Centre for Gender Economics in Africa has advised women artisanal miners in Ogun State to regularly wear their safety kits when they are at site.
The centre said this after a training exercise, encourage them to wear safety gears, the helmet, the google and the jacket always when they are at a mining site.
Speaking with newsmen after the event held in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, the Programme Officer of the centre, Miss Otti Vivian, said the aim of the centre is to empower many women in the country .
PLATFORM TIMES reports that the women were members of Ifelodun Agbeloba female artisanal mine workers.
According to Vivian, the women artisanal miners were trained on how best to protect themselves from hazards of the job.
She said ” we trained them on how to play safe when working in the mine. We encourage them to wear safety gears, the helmet, the google and the jacket always when they are at a mining site .”
The state government’s representative from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Idowu Daramola, also advised the women miners to make best use of the training and the empowerment kits donated to them by the centre.
Daramola was reacting to the complaints of the women miners on the challenges facing them in their job, asking them to channel their request through appropriate quarters.
Daramola however, assured the miners of government’s support.
He said “we have told them that if they need any assistance from our ministry, we are open to them. Our doors are open anytime, any day for them to call on us, we will answer them.”
PLATFORM TIMES further reports that, scores of women artisanal miners in the state, attended the event .
Speaking on behalf of the association, the leader of the women miners, Morinsola Akinwunmi, lauded the centre for the gesture .
Akinwunmi said they learnt more about their work and why they should take their safety seriously.
She however, said lack of quarries, removal of subsidy among others are challenges facing them.
She said they were not finding it easy to make money from their job.
She begged the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, to wade into their plight.
She said “we have more than 100 members that are females. We are facing challenges such as lack of quarry.
“We have been sent away from the Agbeloba quarry. We don’t have quarry again.
“We had been facing a lot of challenges long before the removal of fuel subsidy. Now that the subsidy has been removed, it is more serious .
” When we ask for help from our male counterparts, many of them usually run away with our money. We sustained injury when we were breaking stones .
“We want the state government to help us by solving the problem of quarry. We have been empowered now, we need a quarry to work .
“The biggest challenge is lack of quarry . We need an abandoned quarry to make ends meat.
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